"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Blanche Lincoln vs America

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Looks kind of Republican, huh?

Yesterday both John Amato and Digby gave beautiful explanations for why Blue America is asking our community to help us with a cable TV ad buy in Arkansas, the home of one two of the Senate's worst corporate whores. Both of them have been non-supporters of the public option and both are part of the reason why single payer is not even being considered.

One of them, Blanche Lincoln, WalMart's primary representative in the House of Lords, is up for re-election next year. She's normally very Republican-oriented anyway but in the run-up to the election she thinks she has to go on a jihad against working families. She was one of the first Democrats to assure the Chamber of Commerce that she would join the GOP filibuster of Employee Free Choice. She got away with that so now she's making it clear that she will oppose a workable public option that might "hurt" Insurance companies' profits. She takes a tremendous amount of money from the Medical-Industrial Complex and from the insurance industry. They've donated almost $2 million to her political career so far-- and their donations are accelerating. The Arkansas Times has it broken down even finer:

In Lincoln’s case, the skepticism is based on campaign contributions she has received from health insurance industry, which is decidedly cool to competition from government-managed plans. Over the past 20 years she has received $181,899 from health insurance companies, a total that is 19th highest in the chamber, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Some of that reflects her two terms in the House from January 1993 to January 1997.

For her 2010 campaign for a third Senate term, she has received $14,500 so far, the second highest of any senator up for re-election next year.

Blanche Lincoln is the polar opposite of Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Bernie-- along with a tiny handful of dedicated members of the Senate, Jeff Merkley, Dick Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jack Reed, Sherrod Brown-- truly are Tribunes of the People. Lincoln and most of the Senate are grubby businesspeople shilling for corporations that finance their careers. Watch Bernie Sanders succinctly explain the real health care problem; oddly, he never mentions the problem of protecting Insurance giants' bottom lines. He talks about what American working families need. Watch it and sign his petition.

• 46 million Americans are currently without health insurance;

• 60 million Americans, both insured and uninsured, have inadequate access to primary care due to a shortage of physicians and other health service providers in their community;

• 100 million Americans have no insurance to cover dental needs;

• 116 million adults, nearly two-thirds of all non-seniors, struggled to pay medical bills, went without needed care because of cost, were uninsured for a time, or were underinsured in the last year;

• The United States spends $2.3 trillion each year on health care, 16 percent of its Gross Domestic Product;

• Americans spend $7,129 per person on health care, 50 percent more than other industrialized countries, including those with universal care;

• The U.S. does not get what it pays for. We rank among the lowest in the health outcome rankings of developed countries, and on several major indices rank below some third-world nations;

• The number of health insurance industry bureaucrats has grown at 25 times the growth of physicians in the past 30 years;

• In 2006, the six largest insurance companies made $11 billion in profits even after paying for direct health care costs, administrative costs and marketing costs.

• The potential savings on health insurance paperwork, more than $350 billion per year, is enough to provide comprehensive coverage to every uninsured American;

• Only a single-payer Medicare-for-all plan can realize these enormous savings and provide comprehensive and affordable health care to every citizen.

And then there are the Republicans and their allies like Blanche Lincoln, Joe Lieberman, Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson, putative Democrats who have been bought off by the Insurance Industry and the Medical-Industrial Complex to sabotage any chance for real health care reform. We should be as brave and courageous as the Iranians. Or at least, think about donating some money-- and even $5 or $10 helps-- to our action to take our case to the airwaves of various senators around the country, starting in Arkansas. The alternative is the Republican health care plan: "incentives for healthy living, protection for doctors against malpractice lawsuits and tax breaks to encourage small businesses to offer insurance to their workers."

Your choice. Get involved, And please help us make sure Blanche knows that Americans are sick and tired and not willing to take it anymore. Donate here.

Why is Kathleen Sibelius the Secretary of Health and Human Services instead of Howard Dean? Is Obama a friend of the people's or a friend of corporate interests acting like a friend of the people's? Just asking.

10 Comments:

Blanche Lincoln and other like-minded, weak-kneed "blue dog" Democrats should quit doing Republicans' and corporate America's work for them. There is absolutely no need to protect the profits or incomes of health insurance and pharmaceutical CEOs, all of whom are parasites preying on human illness and suffering. With 1 in every 6.5 of us now going uninsured due to prohibitively high costs, there is no need for these corporate excesses. Those industries should become highly regulated public utilities! Blanche Lincoln, and all those just like her, are enemies of the people and no longer belong on the public payroll!

It’s official. America and the World are now in a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. A World EPIDEMIC with potential catastrophic consequences for ALL of the American people. The first PANDEMIC in 41 years. And WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES will have to face this PANDEMIC with the 37th worst quality of healthcare in the developed World.

STAND READY AMERICA TO SEIZE CONTROL OF YOUR NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.

We spend over twice as much of our GDP on healthcare as any other country in the World. And Individual American spend about ten times as much out of pocket on healthcare as any other people in the World. All because of GREED! And the PRIVATE FOR PROFIT healthcare system in America.

And while all this is going on, some members of congress seem mostly concern about how to protect the corporate PROFITS! of our GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT NATIONAL DISGRACE. A PRIVATE FOR PROFIT DISGRACE that is in fact, totally valueless to the public health. And a detriment to national security, public safety, and the public health.

Progressive democrats and others should stand firm in their demand for a robust public option for all Americans, with all of the minimum requirements progressive democrats demanded. If congress can not pass a robust public option with at least 51 votes and all robust minimum requirements, congress should immediately move to scrap healthcare reform and demand that President Obama declare a state of NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY! Seizing and replacing all PRIVATE FOR PROFIT health insurance plans with the immediate implementation of National Healthcare for all Americans under the provisions of HR676 (A Single-payer National Healthcare Plan For All).

Coverage can begin immediately through our current medicare system. With immediate expansion through recruitment of displaced workers from the canceled private sector insurance industry. Funding can also begin immediately by substitution of payroll deductions for private insurance plans with payroll deductions for the national healthcare plan. This is what the vast majority of the American people want. And this is what all objective experts unanimously agree would be the best, and most cost effective for the American people and our economy.

In Mexico on average people who received medical care for A-H1N1 (Swine Flu) with in 3 days survived. People who did not receive medical care until 7 days or more died. This has been the same results in the US. But 50 million Americans don’t even have any healthcare coverage. And at least 200 million of you with insurance could not get in to see your private insurance plans doctors in 2 or 3 days, even if your life depended on it. WHICH IT DOES!

I see that the American people are wising up and can no longer be hoodwinked by the insurance companies and the HMO's. First many of these so called nonprofits are for big profits. All of there corporate media blitz cannot hide that there only interest is cash. Medical and managed care are all run and decided at the top level. There is not one doctor in the frontline of HMO's who can make any real medical decision without passing it up the food chain to decide if the doctors referral is allowed. Denial is the mainstay of insurance and HMO'S. Actually automatic denial is a tool to wear patients down and hoard more cash for there bottom line. When the Republicans whine about goverment plans and single payer its all lies to the core. They dont care one bit if we all die begging for care. This is just one more aspect of the GREED mentality We have all suffered because our so called representatives are KSTREET bottom feeders. Tri Care, the goverment plan for military and the President seems to work fine. Should the republicans tout that the military plan is another failed scheme and put them all in an HMO? Health care is not a medical financial scheme to make money. The two concepts directly and morally oppose each other. Its a huge conflict of interest and it wont work. GREED is a poison that does not belong alongside the hippocratic oath. Please people stay awake and fight for your representatives to do your bidding. Remember there is no finish line until this race for truth and justice is over....

OObviously you have never lived on the border of Canada or had relatives in Great Britain like I have. The health care system is great if you are healthy but if you are not it is pure hell. My friends who are nurses see streams of people who their health care won't help coming to Buffalo hospitals to be fixed. As for Unions having voted for one once I will NEVER do so again. Why is okay if 30 % want the vote to be non-private that my individual right as a citizen to not have it private is not okay. I don't want the union or anyone to know how I voted. I found the unninon to be mainly interested in politics and not helping the average worker but hendering their progress. We had even less voice then we had before. Instead of our company going to us they went to the union representative who most of us could not stand. I question whether he was even voted on legally. My parents have had similar experiences with unions. I for one do not wish to be harassed by the union if I do not vote for them. Although I voted for it the people that did not feared for their jobs. It takes a strong individual to stand up to their antics of not keeping your job if you do not go along with them. Just some different opinion for your to consider.

Obviously you have never lived near Canada or Great Britain. From experience it is painful to watch all the sick Canadians that will not be treated by their health care system flood into Buffalo hospitals or to have people wait months for operations that here take only weeks to schedule in Great Britain. There health care is great for the healthy but for those that are truly sick... I think we should concentrate on medicaid abuse. I have a friend who is getting a tummy tuck on medicaid. As for unions....been there and done that and never again. I was all for unions. I helped organzie to get a union into my place of employment. I take exception to having 30 % of a group dictate my right to have a private vote for or against a union. The union was a total bust. Just as my parents told me who were also in unions. Instead of people coming to the employees as in the past they came to the union appointees and they were horribly political. Even worse then what we had in the past. The people who did not want a union or were on the edge were harassed and it is almost impossible to stand up to their tactics. Never again. Waste of my money I could have spent elsewhere. Thought you all might like to hear different view.